Life belt and method for making the same



Aug. 4, 1925. 1,548,571 4 J. v. ABRAMOWIT Z LIFE BELT AND METHOD FOR MAKING THE; SAME Filed Aug. 6. 1924 II n I 1 a i l."

INVENTOR.

BY I

" ATT mvsx' Patented Aug. 4 1 925.

TlNHTETt STATES JOSEPH V. ABRAMOVIITZ, OF BLOOMFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

LIFE BELT AND IIEETHO'D FOR MAKING THE SAME.

Application filed August 6, 1924. Serial No. 730,345.

To all whom may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrrr V. ABRAMO- WITZ, a citizen of Lithuania and a resident of Bloomfield, county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Life Belts and Methods of Making the Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved life belt which is comfortable to wear on account of its extremely light weight and its free pliability or flexibility and on this account the article can be worn not only in emergencies but also as a part of a suit when bathing or as part of a garment.

The invention also relates to the life belt made so as to be worn under a bathing suit or the like and not make the person wearing it look grotesque since the shape of the belt is such that it fits the body and also conforms on its outer face 'to the approximate shape of the garment.

The invention also con'sists'in the method of assembling the parts of the belt so that cork or other similar, buoyant material in the shape of small fragments is held so that it is not tightly massed or matted but is only just fairly compact and is freely movable as a layer or belt, but the fragments do not bunch or become unevenly distributed but maintain their proper positions and the belt retains its shape throughout and also has an equal buoyancy throughout.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a view of a person wearing a garment equipped with my improved life belt and Figure 2 is a sectional view illustrating the belt more clearly. Figure 3 is a front view of the garment detached from the wearer. Figure 4: is a view of the belt itself. Figure 5 is a view of a garment with the belt devoid of exterior fastening means. Figure 6 is a horizontal section of the belt with an elastic connection between its ends. Figure 7 is a perspective view of the belt of Figure 1 detached from the garment.v Figure 8 is a detail section through the belt illustrating how the particles of buoyant material are treated to secure them together with a coment so as to provide the flexibility and at the same time insure the stability and evenness of the belt. Figure 9 is a similar view showing an interior webbing.

In some of the figures I show the belt in conjunction with a bathing suit which I desconforms to the shape of the body and its outer face 13 is similarly curved but on a 7 larger radius so that the belt is thickest in the middle and tapers toward the top and bottom edges. This form of belt shows no pronounced protuberances and is therefore not apparent to the observer. The belt is usually made with narrower ends which are joined by straps 1a which are passed out through slits 15 in the suit and are buckled or tied together.

In Figure 7 I show the belt secured at one edge to the top of a pair of trunks 16 and the belt is shown as including an elastic band 17 which holds the belt on the body of the wearer and the belt can be covered with fabric or other covering 18.

The belt proper is made up of small particles of buoyant material and I prefer to use cork but may also use such material as hair or some of the other substances employed in making buoyant articles. The cork is placed in a mass, as a layer, and it is not too tightly massed as I find that a somewhat loose mass is more satisfactory because the resultant article is more flexible. Over one face of the layer I apply a waterproof cement such as rubber cement and have it of a proper degree of viscosity so that it trickles in between the particles of cork for a slight distance, far enough to hold the particles in position here and there to stabilize the whole mass near that face. Then I apply the cement to the other faceand it fixes or sets the rest of the mass in the same way. The particles in the centre have a very limited freedom of movement and therefore can be slightly moved relative to each other and in this way the belt is very flexible and light and it is also very buoyant as the air thus confined in the belt adds to its buoyancy. In the drawing the cork particles are shown at 19 and at 20 I show the covering of cement which is shown at 21 as having penetrated to the interior of the mass between the cork particles.

In Figure 5 I show a belt in a garment but made slightly smaller than the garment so that there are no outside fastenings necessary since the flexibility and elasticity of the belt will hold it on.

I have illustrated in Figure 9 a belt in cross-section which form has a sheet of elastic webbing or cloth 22 which preferably extends throughout the length of the belt and usually its full width. The elastic webbing is thoroughly protected as it is kept dry and it adds resiliency and elasticity to the belt. It holds the cork particles against undue movement so that they do not become powdered or crumbled to any appreciable extent in a short time. When the belt is made in a continuous strip or ring without other fastening means the elastic strip 22 holds the belt securely to the body so that it fits snugly and is comfortable. The web 22 also returns the belt to its original shape after a suit in which it may be fastened is wrung out or otherwise folded or creased.

I claim:

1. The herein described method of making a life belt which comprises the assembling of small particles of cork to form a layer of material thickness, then applying a liquid waterproof cement to the top face of the layer the cement being of such viscosity that it trickles between the particles toward the inside of the layer to bind the particles beneath the surface, and then applying the cement to the other face so that the resultant belt is of great flexibility but in which the inside cork particles are loosely held but against shifting.

2. A life belt comprising a layer of cork particles, a water proof binder on the outside of the layer to bind the particles t0- gether, the layer being formed with its outer curved on its inner face on a smaller radius than that of the outer face.

4. In combination, a bathing suit having a buoyant belt secured therein the belt por tion being located-at the waist portion of the suit and curved on its outer face and curved on its inner face on a smaller radius than that of the outer face, the belt portion being made of a slightly compacted mass of cork particles.

5. A life belt comprising a mass of particles of buoyant material, a binder for the mass, and a sheet of elastic webbing extending through the belt.

6. A life belt such as set forth in claim 5 in which the belt is made in the form of a continuous ring and the sheet is continuous and thereby forms a resilient means for holding the belt to the body of the wearer.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my hand, this 24th day of July, 1924:. i

JOSEPH V. ABRAMO'WITZ. 

